Love Story
by cilepe
Summary: This will be a collection of the drabbles I wind up writing in relation to a roleplaying ship of Montgomery Scott and Christine Chapel. Completely AU to the movie world. Will include Romance/Angst/Hurt, Comfort
1. Chapter 1

**Hair: Irresistible Longing, Throat: Desire, Wrist: Desire/Lust, Chest: Possesion, Lips: Love**

Despite their best efforts, it hadn't been a quiet, simple day. It had turned into a shipwide celebration. Neither of them could really be upset, though. It wasn't as if anyone had been acting out of malice. Still, it was a relief when they could finally escape. Their room was quiet and the lights were dimmed. They'd collapsed together onto the sofa, spending some time just drinking in the silence.

Christine was the first to move. She twisted around and placed a gentle kiss on the side of Scotty's head. "You want to help me get this thing off?" she asked, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

As her white dress pooled to the floor, she grasped his hand and pressed her lips to his wrist.

His suit soon enough joined her dress and she nipped along his throat down to his chest.

A teasing grin stole across Scotty's face. "No rush now, Mrs. Scott. We've got the rest of our lives."

"Shut up," Christine said, making sure he'd comply by covering his lips with her own.

**Arm: Affection/Adoration, Cheek: Dear/Kindness/Satisfaction**

"What happened?" Christine asked with a concerned look as Scotty ambled into sickbay looking rather displeased with himself.

"I had a bit o' trouble replacing a casing," he said, displaying a decent gash across his forearm.

Christine just shook her head. "Should I kiss it better?" she asked before quickly doing so as she inspected the wound more closely.

She laughed at the nettled look on his face and quickly cleaned and bandaged the cut. "There, all better," she said, giving him a pat on the knee. He shot her a glare and she grinned as she bent down to kiss his cheek. "You still love me."

**Bridge of the Nose: Treasuring, Nape: Deep Attachment, Back: Confirmation**

Christine had become a much lighter sleeper being with Scotty. She didn't always wake fully to check on him, but this wasn't one of those times. She slipped over to his side of the bed and came up behind him, briefly resting her chin on his shoulder, then pressing a few gentle kisses to the nape of his neck and his back. She wrapped her arms around him and just waited until he finally responded to her presence.

When he gently pulled her around so that he could see her, she softly kissed the bridge of his nose as well, and then the top of his head as he tucked his chin to chest.


	2. Chapter 2

The familiar hum of the transporter sounded and a moment later there was a very bubbly four year old jumping up and down on the pad. "Grandpa! Grandpa!"

"Aye, there's my wee laddie!" Scotty said, sweeping the little boy up in his arms.

"I wanna see engines, Grandpa!"

"I'm sure you do, but what d'ye think Grandma would do to me if we went to see the engines first?"

The boy widened his eyes. "We go see Grandma."

Scotty nodded. "Aye."

The pair headed off, the little boy talking animatedly about his latest adventures, which of course included Loch Ness Monster hunting, even though there was no monster in the lakes of Colorado. Scotty stopped outside a door just long enough to enter the code that would let them in. As the door closed behind them, the toddler wriggled to the ground and made a beeline for the kitchen, lured by the scent of cookies. Once the appropriate amounts of hugs had been given and cookies had been eaten, the three set off to explore the ship, engineering section first.


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing Christine heard was the familiar beeping of a biobed monitor. Judging by how she felt, she hadn't just fallen asleep in sickbay again—she was a patient. It wasn't unitl she opened her eyes that panic started to set in.

Almost immediately, she felt warm fingers against her cheek and heard Scotty's voice whispering, trying to keep her calm. She reached out, waving her arm frantically, trying to find something that would orient her.

Her hand was taken gently, but that wasn't what she wanted. "No. Where are you? Are you standing, sitting, left, right?" She felt her breathing speed up.

"Here," Scotty said, placing her hand on his knee.

He was on her left, sitting, well, perching more likely, on the edge of the bed. She gripped his knee tightly a moment before running her hand up and down his leg lightly. She took a few deep breaths. "What happened? Why can't I see?"

* * *

Several days later, McCoy asked Scotty and Christine join him in his office.

Christine had believed she could navigate sickbay in her sleep and insisted she could make it just fine, but it was like she'd never been there before. After she nearly ran into a cart loaded with hypos, Scotty shook his head.

"You always lecture me about being too stubborn for my own good, but I think you've got the same problem. You're going to hurt yourself or someone else going on like this." He took her arm and guided her the rest of the way.

McCoy cleared his throat uncomfortably. "There's no easy way to say this, Chris. I'd hoped the damage could be repaired, but there's nothing I can do. The gas you were exposed to works unbelievably fast and does incredible damage."

Christine clutched Scotty's hand tightly as the doctor's words sank in. She heard Scotty insist there must be something left to try and Leonard's response that Christine had already lost her sight, taste, and smell, and as a doctor he wouldn't put any patient through a pointless operation that would definitely do more damage.

"Montgomery! Leonard! Stop." She waited. "If anyone should be shouting, I think it's me, and clearly I am not."

"You might want to hold off on that, Chris. I had to update your file and this is what I got back." He handed the PADD to Scotty, who read the message aloud.

_Stardate 2345.3_

_Due to injury, Lieutenant Christine Scott is hereby removed from active duty. Upon arrival at Starbase 9 on stardate 2379.1, Lt. Scott will report to base commander and arrangements will be made for her transfer to Starfleet Headquarters._

It was funny. The transfer order was a bigger blow than losing her sight. "But—they can't—Scotty?" She couldn't even form complete sentences.

"I already talked to Jim about this. Starfleet's not gonna budge. For your safety," McCoy said.

After a few minutes of stunned silence on Christine's part and useless objections on Scotty's, McCoy ushered them out of his office. There was nothing anyone could do.

Back in their quarters, Scotty hesitated. "Can I get you anything? Tea? Scotch?" He was only half-joking.

"No. I just want to lie down."

"Of course. D'you want to be left alone?"

"No."

They lay silently for a long time. It wasn't normal Starfleet procedure to separate a couple and neither of them had ever considered such a possibility before.

Christine hated herself for asking this, but she had to. "Are you coming with me?"

Scotty also hated himself-because he'd been asking himself that since they'd left McCoy's office. It hadn't been a long debate, but it still had been a debate. He loved the Enterprise; it had been his home. The crew was his family. But he couldn't abandon his wife. "Aye. Where you go, I go."

* * *

**A/N: originally posted on Tumblr; another of my roleplay drabbles. **


	4. Chapter 4

Christine heaved a sigh as she washed up. It had been a very bad day for the Enterprise. So many things had gone wrong and a lot of people had died.

She took one final look around before leaving as she did every day. One thing caught her eye and she couldn't ignore it.

"Scotty. Come on."

He turned toward her, but didn't really see her, and took a wild swing at her. She'd been expecting it and easily sidestepped it, but she took a firm grip around his arm just in case he tried it again.

"You're a mess right now, Scotty, and I'm not going to let you just sit here all night. She's gone and I'm sorry, but you can't stay here like this. I know for a fact she wouldn't want that." It took a great deal of effort for her to say the words; she'd never quite accepted that Scotty had moved on.

With a bit more coaxing, and no more violence, she got Scotty to stand up and she half pulled him along behind her back to her quarters. She wasn't going to leave him alone in this mood, but she couldn't face going back to the rooms he'd shared with _her._

Inside her quarters, she sat him down on the couch and turned her attention to cleaning him up. He was covered in blood, some his own, some _hers_, some belonging to others from his department. He had only minor injuries, cuts and a few small burns, nothing she couldn't take care of here.

They sat silently, Christine's gaze flicking between her task and his face, Scotty's gaze fixed on nothing.

"Why are y' doin' this?" he finally demanded, his eyes showing a mix of pain and confusion and maybe a tiny bit of anger.

"It's my job," she said evenly. She wanted to say more, explain everything, but this was not the time. "I know you won't give this much attention to yourself."

She finished treating his wounds and stood up. "You can go somewhere else if you want, but I'm going to make sure someone's with you."

"Like y' even care," he returned bitterly.

She bit back the urge to argue. He was hurting right now, probably all the more so because of her presence. "I never stopped caring."

He snorted, but made no move to leave. He just didn't have the energy.

Christine left the room for a moment. She came back in clean clothes, carrying a blanket. She tucked it around his shoulders and then sat down at the other end of the couch, dimming the lights, and curling up with a throw pillow.

They remained sitting silently the rest of the night.


	5. Chapter 5

Scotty turned as he heard someone calling his name. Dr. McCoy waved when he caught Scotty's eye. "Have you seen Chapel today? She hasn't checked in once."

Scotty shook his head. "I'll go check on her, aye?"

A few minutes later he was at Christine's door sharing McCoy's concern. Christine almost always met him at the door. Today she hadn't answered. Scotty didn't hesitate in overriding the door. He found her huddled in a lump on her bed, a bottle of strangely colored liquid peeking out from under a pillow. With a few strides, Scotty was at the bedside.

Christine turned her head. "Hi," she murmured in a strange tone.

Scotty perched uneasily on the edge of the bed. "My poor lass. What's the matter?" He rested his hand on Christine's shoulder. She just shook her head and buried her face in the pillow again.

Scotty gently pulled her upright and held her to him. "Will ye tell me what the matter is?" She shook her head and pulled the bottle out.

Scotty snatched it away from her. "That's not the way to feel better, lassie."

Christine pulled away and yanked it back from him. "Don't tell me what to do," she retorted venemously.

"I'm only trying to look out for ye," he replied, confused and hurt.

"I'm perfectly capable of making decisions for myself," she said icily.

"I never said ye weren't!" Scotty exclaimed, completely at a loss. She'd never spoken like that to him before.

Christine sighed heavily. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken this out on you."

"I won't mind if ye tell me what brought this on."

She bit her lip as she reached for her PADD and opened a message. "It's this." She handed the device to Scotty. He read it over and shot her a puzzled look. Christine smiled wryly. "Bad memories. Roger's my ex-husband," she explained. She leaned back against the wall that served as a headboard and drew her knees up, staring at nothing.

Scotty took one of her hands. "Well, an invitation to your ex's wedding would be enough to upset anybody."

She chuckled mirthlessly. "The wedding isn't really what got to me." She shifted her gaze to meet his eyes for a moment. "We met through work and I foolishly thought he wouldn't be as controlling at home as he was at the lab. I was almost glad when I lost the baby. He wouldn't have been a good father. Then we got divorced, he fired me, and took up with his new lab assistant." She grabbed the PADD and tapped a photo on the message.

Scotty took the PADD again. "Ah," he murmured. The photo showed a beaming couple holding a sleeping infant.

"I wonder if she's realized what she's into yet. I know he sent this to spite me, rub his new family in my face." She sighed again. "I'm sorry. This is probably a lot for you to take in."

Scotty slid closer as he squeezed her hand. When she looked at him again, he caressed her cheek and brought his lips to meet hers in a gentle, reassuring kiss. "We've all got secrets, love. The trick is realizing when we don't need to carry them alone anymore."

* * *

**A/N: reboot Chapel backstory; Christine/Scotty ship.**


	6. Chapter 6

**/Momma? Momma, Uncle Kirk said to come tell you that Uncle Leo needs you at work. *tugs on your sleeve* He said that Daddy needed your help. An' he called him Montgomery. He never does that./**

"Call auntie Ny, ok?" she called over her shoulder as she left the room.

She sprinted to sick bay unthinkingly, she'd done it so many times. When she burst through the doors, the usually bustling rooms fell silent. She fought the urge to panic as she approached the table.

"Chris?" A lot of meaning was carried in Dr. McCoy's one word. /Are you okay? You don't have to do this. But decide now, we need to get started./

No time to process, no time to feel. She met his eyes steadily. "Ready, Doctor."

It was easier once she was standing next to Leonard, handing over instruments and monitoring equipment. She could pretend that it wasn't Scotty lying there, it was just the patient. It wasn't her husband she was piecing back together. It wasn't the father of her child who was threatening to leave her.

The operation complete, Christine stood numbly, unseeingly, as Scotty was moved to a biobed and another nurse scurried around her, clearing up. Suddenly, the wall she'd put up collapsed and she was on the floor, shaking, silently screaming. Leonard pulled her to her feet and eventually succeeded in getting her into his office. He sat her in a chair and poured a glass of something and forced it into her hand. She drank automatically. Whatever it was, it burned her mouth the same way Scotty's stupid scotch did, and with that, the tears broke free. Leonard took the glass and perched on the arm of the chair, rubbing her back with one hand. When she was spent, Leonard smoothly handed her the tissues and then the rest of her drink. She looked at him gratefully. She couldn't talk just yet and he knew it. He finally broke the silence. "He'll live, but I can't estimate when or in what condition he'll wake up."

She nodded. She'd treated Scotty dozens of times after engineering accidents, up to and including cutting off a finger, but she'd never doubted that he'd be right as rain again.

Leonard and Christine sat in silence, both sipping another drink when Nyota appeared with a whimpering little boy. He ran to Christine and firmly attached himself around her middle. "You were gone a long time."

She kissed his forehead. "I know, I'm sorry."

"I wanna see Daddy," he said, voice muffled by her shoulder.

Leonard and Nyota exchanged looks before Leonard shrugged at Christine. She stood up. "We can visit, but Daddy's sleeping and we can't wake him yet." Her voice was surprisingly steady. She carried the boy out to the row of biobeds where Scotty lay. This was going to be the most difficult wait of her life.

* * *

Part 2 of this 4 part little adventurewas written by my rp partner. You can read it on AO3 as _Breaking Apart_ by carnelianBlood.

* * *

Leonard left a bewildered looking Scotty in order to check on his head nurse. She was already stirring, so he hovered over her and helped her sit up, shielding her view of Scotty in the process.

She felt a little fuzzy. "I fainted? That's embarrassing. Why on earth…" Realization dawned. "He's awake."

Leonard firmly held her in place, his expression grim.

Christine's heart sank.

"Sorry," Scotty interrupted. "Did you just say wife?"

Leonard moved, allowing Christine and Scotty to look at each other again. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Scotty frowned. "I was trapped in some godforsaken outpost on Delta Vega."

Christine couldn't hold back a slight gasp. Leonard had explained this was a very real possibilty, but she'd refused to believe it. She withdrew a slight distance, attempting to calm down.

The doors hissed open and Christine nearly fainted again as Robbie walked in for his usual visit. She could do nothing but watch. "Daddy!" he cried, running to the bed and jumping up. "You're 'wake!"

Scotty looked helplessly at the others. Leonard scooped the child up. "He's awake, kiddo, but not better yet. I've got more work to do."

The boy nodded knowingly as he was handed back to his mother. "And I can't stay." He fixed his eyes on Scotty. "Don't worry, daddy. Uncle Len can fix everything." He waved cheerily as Christine carried him out.

Scotty rubbed his forehead tiredly. "I don't remember 'em," he muttered.

A few minutes later, Uhura wandered in calling, "Chris? Sorry, Robbie got away from me."

"She's no' here, lass," Scotty said, attempting to be helpful.

Uhura bounded over to the bed. "Scotty!" She was nearly clapping with excitement. "You're back."

"Apparently not," he said, bitterly.

Uhura's brown eyes searched his. "What do you mean?"

"I don't remember…I don't know you, I don't know them, bloody hell I don't even know where I am."

Leonard later spied Uhura perched on Scotty's bedside, listening to him rant. He kept his distance. He couldn't do anyhing to return Scotty's memory. Maybe talking to Uhura would help.

The following days were awkward. Christine was always in early, making sure he was comfortable. She was pleasant, not effusive, but then Scotty wasn't particularly cheery himself. There was a wall there and both of them felt better when they weren't in close proximity.

The only person Scotty seemed to enjoy having around was Uhura. She visited often, telling him stories of Africa and teaching him random words in Swahili to taunt the doctor.

Christine found them laughing one day and the look that flitted across her face nearly broke Scotty's heart, though he couldn't help but feel bereft when Uhura gave his hand a friendly pat and slipped away.

"You two have really hit it off," Christine said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

"Aye," Scotty replied. He watched the woman fidget uncomfortably. "Come on, spit it out, lass," he said, finally.

Another pained look crossed Christine's face, but she didn't comment. "Robbie wants to see you." She noticed Scotty's look of panic. "I'll keep him away if you'd prefer."

Scotty scrubbed a hand across his face. "No, I…I want to see him. It might help, aye?"

She nodded. "We'll be by later, then."

Scotty couldn't rest the next few hours. He stood and paced back and forth so often McCoy threatened to tie him down. Then the doors opened and a smile appeared on hia face of its own accord. "Hello, lad."

The boy ran to him and Scotty suddenly panicked. Part of him wanted nothing more than to embrace his son and never let him go, but a much bigger part was telling him to stop, he didn't love this child, he didn't even know him. He froze, staring at the little boy wrapped around his legs.

"Daddy?"

Christine was there in an instant, snuggling him to her chest, kissing his hair, whispering that Daddy still didn't feel better. She studiously avoided Scotty's eyes as she left.

Scotty collapsed in a heap on his bed. This was all his fault. He'd failed them. He didn't remember them, but he'd still failed.

Back in her quarters, Christine was struggling to comfort a hysterical Robbie. "Daddy doesn't love us," he wailed. Christine couldn't deny it.

* * *

After a few weeks of going stir crazy in sickbay, Scotty finally wound up crashing on McCoy's sofa. The reasoning was that Leonard was hardly ever there and once Scotty got back to work, he'd be busy, too.

Christine stopped one day to drop off some things. They stood staring at the ground awkwardly before Christine shoved the box into his hands and hurried away.

Scotty sat down to dig through it. Clothes, which he'd hardly worried about up to now, a couple of PADDS, and a funny little stuffed green dinosaur. Scotty didn't know why that was there, but it gave him a happy feeling, so he set it next to his pillow.

He took a closer look at the PADDs. Each had a note attached. One said, 'Work PADD. The technical journals on here should be more than enough to catch you up so you can get back to work.'

The other simply said, 'Personal' followed by a series of numbers.

Scotty activated the device and realized they must be the pass code. He nodded when it unlocked and began browsing. Movies, music, none of those really surprised him. Messages…he wasn't quite ready for that. Pictures…ok.

Leonard came in a little later. "Whatcha lookin' at?" he asked, browsing over Scotty's shoulder.

"Christine brought these," Scotty replied gesturing vaguely at the box as he flicked through pictures.

"I'm gonna kill her," McCoy muttered at one point.

The picture featured Leonard lying facedown on a table next to Scotty, who was trying to grin triumphantly but was entirely too sloshed to succeed. An attached message read, 'My boss is Sleepy there. And that other idiot, that's my husband.'

Scotty turned the thing off. He flopped backwards and landed on the dinosaur. He fished it out and stared at it. He'd seen things like it frequently at souvenir and toy shops in Scotland. It was a little Loch Ness monster. He hugged it, not caring how silly he might look to McCoy. It felt like home.

It was about 3 months since Scotty woke up that he wound up in sick bay again, this time for a jagged cut down his forearm.

Christine was alone when he came in and she adopted a neutral expression as she cleaned the cut.

"Your hands are cold," he remarked.

Her reply went unheard as Scotty was thrown back in time. Memories of cool fingers wrapping around his neck when he least expected it, cold hands quickly warming up as they snaked under his shirt to rest on his chest, pressing Christine's chilly fingers to his lips as he knelt before her seeing her eyes go misty as she said yes.

"Are you all right?"

Christine's voice brought him back to reality. He clenched her hand unconsciously. "I—I remembered something."

She looked at him guardedly. "What?"

"Your hands," he said, squeezing again, "they're always cold." He laughed. "It's the first thing people notice when you touch them. I got you gloves as a present once and you smacked me." He was nearly giddy.

"Hold still, I'm not done with that arm," Christine said flatly.

Scotty took a deep breath and forced himself to stay still. "Are you no' excited?" he asked, suddenly noticing her stoic demeanor.

Christine sighed and looked him in the eyes for the first time in months. She was just holding back tears. "You just wait until I'm finished patching you up."


	7. Prompt: Goodbye

Christine had to ask one of the others to hold her PADD for her as she recorded the message. That was probably the worst part. She took a deep breath and nodded, signalling she was ready.

Weak smile. "Hi, love. They keep telling me not to worry, that the ship will make it back in time. I'm sure you're up there right now, telling Jim that is perfectly safe to run at warp 9 as long as it'll take to get here. If the emergency message reached you when it was supposed to. If not…" She trailed off, biting her lip, taking a few more deep breaths. "I'd give anything if it would mean I could see you, hold you, kiss you again, but you can't negotiate with death. I'm no Jim Kirk. I don't have a clever plan to get out of this."

Her eyes drifted off to the side and she shook her head slightly. The PADD was put into her hands and the woman who'd been holding it slipped away. "That's better. Just us now. I need you to do something for me, Montgomery. Don't shut down, okay? There's a whole ship full of people who depend on you. More importantly, our little boy is depending on you. Don't let him think even for one minute that he's losing you, too."

She had to stop, fight back the tears. One more shaky breath. "I love you, Montgomery Scott, and I'm so sorry." She hurriedly stopped the recording and pressed send as the tremors started. It didn't matter when the ship with its computers and professional staff and up-to-date facilities arrived now. Not for her, anyway. At least they'd be able to save some of the others.


	8. Chapter 8

Christine Chapel knew exactly what was waiting for her when she got off shift and she had to admit, she was going to enjoy it. She knew some of the other officers had set their sights on the captain, but she had no interest. It wasn't a lack of ambition on her part. No, she preferred to work behind the scenes, under the proverbial radar. She was good at what she did, which provided her with far more security than warming the captain's bed ever would, and it meant she was free to pursue whomsoever else she liked.

She slipped inside the dimly lit room and was immediately taken hold of as rough kisses were pressed along her jaw. A shiver of pleasure ran down her spine as she returned kiss for kiss. "I hope you saved me some," she purred, tasting the alcohol on his lips.

"After," he growled back, pinning her up against the wall and making short work of both their uniforms. He ran his hands down her back before lifting her up and tossing her lightly onto his bed.

* * *

Christine reached lazily across to the nightstand and poured herself a generous glass of honey-colored liquid. She sniffed it appreciatively before pressing the glass to her lips. Montgomery Scott never wasted his time on cheap scotch. He always had the best and Christine was the only person he allowed to partake of his collection freely.

She flopped back against the pillow, her free hand trailing along the fresh scratches flaming on her lover's torso. She caught his gaze and winked at him. It was a rare occasion for either one of them to emerge unscathed, though they'd each taken care to leave a more permanent reminder of their mutual possession. Christine had a tattoo on her neck, on the exact spot that Scotty could kiss and make her literally weak at the knees. Scotty's was on his right side, along his ribcage, along the path Christine liked to trace, her ice cold hands quickly heating at the contact with his warm skin.

He rolled on top of her, taking care not to crush her with his weight. He smirked at her and pried the glass from her hand, taking a long swig before returning it.

She held his gaze as she finished the glass and handed it back to him to put aside. Much of their communication was nonverbal, both by choice and as a means of protection. Though they weren't exactly prime targets, they could never tell who might try to listen in on them.

"Ye really ought to go now," he said, still pinning her down as he set the glass back in its place.

"Really?" she returned, smirking. It was a ritual they had, every night saying almost the same thing, the variations of the tones of their voices indicating their intentions.

"Aye," he whispered, shifting to place another string of kisses along her throat.

"Well, if you're absolutely sure," she murmured in reply, making no attempt to move.

"Mmmmmm," he said absently, "on second thought, I prefer to keep ye just the way ye are."

"I thought you might," she said, arching up slightly to meet his lips.

"Ye know me too well," he returned, turning them both so he could pull her flush against him.

She scoffed lightly as she settled back into his arms. As she drifted off to sleep, there may have been a faint feeling that something was going unsaid. She pushed it aside even as she grasped his hand tighter.

* * *

**A/N: Just a little mirror-verse themed thing that wanted to be written.**


	9. The Baby (major character death)

Christine knew how to hide what she was feeling. She knew there would be questions otherwise. She didn't want to answer questions. Not even when Scotty asked them. She knew everyone was just concerned, but their first words were generally about the baby. How was _the baby_. Where's _the baby_. Can I hold _the baby_. There's _the baby_. She was the afterthought.

It only got worse as time went on. Christine was biting back cutting remarks every time she went anywhere with the newborn. She snapped at Scotty one evening when he came back from his shift and his first words were directed at _the baby_. He just gave her a funny look and tried his best to soothe her. She put on a good show of being placated, but after he went to sleep, the words _the baby_ wouldn't quit circling in her mind.

The next morning, she saw Scotty off as her usual cheery self and Scotty left with a spring in his step, thinking all was well. As soon as he'd gone, Christine tiptoed over to the crib where _the baby_ lay. She stared down at him, studying his sleeping face dispassionately. It was fine when it was like this, but soon enough he'd wake, demanding food, demanding changing, demanding, demanding, demanding, always needing something and giving her nothing in return. Not only that, but stealing everyone else's attention from her as well. It had to stop. Robotically, she picked up the sleeping infant and held the blanket over his nose and mouth. Finally, knowing she'd held on long enough, she placed him back in his crib.

Next, she sealed the door and pulled off the casing on the environmental controls and began fiddling with the wires and circuits. She sat down on the sofa, clutching Scotty's little stuffed dinosaur to her chest, and waited. Within minutes, she was unconscious as the carbon monoxide flooded the room. Soon enough, her breathing stopped. It was over.


	10. Chapter 10

Christine had never sprinted so hard in her life.

As soon as she'd heard Scotty's voice cut out over the comms only to be replaced by someone else's, she had snagged a medical kit and ran, not knowing or caring if anyone followed her or tried to get her to stop.

The ride in the turbo lift was agonizing. She couldn't do anything but adjust her grip on her bag and experiment with stances that would aid her take-off once the door opened.

She raced down the smoke-filled corridor, bumping against choking and coughing crewmen trying to flee the engine room. Once she made it inside, her eyes started burning and she was soon coughing as well. She fiddled with her kit just long enough to put on a respirator and then started searching. If she knew Scotty, he'd be right at the heart of the problem.

That was exactly where she found him. Another engineer knelt over him, covering his mouth and nose with a scrap of her own shirt. Christine shooed her away as she took her place, quickly checking over her husband's vitals. They weren't promising.

Then she saw the shrapnel that had flown throughout the chamber. Scotty wasn't the only victim, but he was the only one who had survived this long. It wouldn't be much longer.

His eyes struggled open as he was lured back to awareness by the familiar touch of her cold fingers. He tried to smile, but the look on Christine's face told him everything he needed to know. He closed his eyes again, briefly, before opening them again and silently pleading for her to get out of there while she still could.

She shook her head and set her kit aside. She lay down next to him, turning her head to face him and moving in close. She pulled off her respirator and pressed one last desperate kiss to his lips. Then she carefully place her arms around him and closed her eyes, pressing her forehead to his.

Even after she felt him stop breathing she didn't let go.


End file.
